Empowering communities through conservation:

... to implement the Resilient Natural Resource Management for Tourism and Growth (REGROW) project.

 The six years project under the Natural Resources and Tourism ministry is geared towards transforming the tourism sector in the Southern Circuit. It is executed at four national parks—Ruaha, Mikumi, Udzungwa and Nyerere.

Blanka Tengia, is the the ministry’s REGROW deputy coordinator, she said since the southern circuit is largely a water source and catchment area in Tanzania, it important to strengthen the management of protected areas and promote nature-based tourism.

According to Tengia, among other things, the project seeks to strengthen alternative livelihoods of the communities in proximity to the four mentioned parks.

“We are also improving the southern tourism circuit because we want visitors to also visit our parks on this side after their tour of parks in the northern zone and Zanzibar,” said Tengia, adding research findings showed that the four selected parks were likely to bring good results within a short period. 

She said the project also considered surrounding communities by ensuring that villagers benefit from conservation activities. She said empowerment plan is meant to reduce villager’s encroachment in to the park as they had been illegally hunting wild animals and cutting trees for firewood and charcoal.

“We want to empower them economically; we assist them in establishing alternative income generating activities whereas we assist them to form groups. We also train them on entrepreneurship skills, financial literacy as well as writing project proposals,” she added.  

Under the project, the groups are provided with funds to run the projects and are closely monitored by officials at local government level, she said, adding through the Community Conservation Bank (COCOBA) the groups are given seed money to boost their savings. 

The monies helps villagers to individually take loans and establish small businesses thus reduce dependency on the forests.   

There are eight villages in Kilosa and Movemro districts that are directly linked with the community empowerment program—COCOBA near the Mikumi National Park.

Kilosa District has 55 groups while Movomero has 47. The total number of villagers benefitting with the program through their groups is 2,307, of which, 764 are men and 1,543 women.

 A member of Changamoto group in Mkata village, Mvomero District, Morogoro Region, Asnat Jackson said she was able to secure a 2.5m/- loan, the funds she used to open a shop.

“My life has changes since I joined the group; with the support from COCOBA we can easily access loans and repay in phases. I am getting a good income that enables me to pay school fees for my two children,” narrated Jackson, appealing to her fellow villagers to continue working closely with the management of Mikumi National Park as well as conserving natural resources.

She added that almost all the villagers are aware of the benefits of conservation and have abandoned the popular charcoal making business.

The park’s good neighbouring program has largely contributed to enhanced conservation activities at the village, she said.

Lilimary Mbasha, a resident of Mikumi village in Kilosa District, is the beneficiaries of the World Bank funded project, she commended the government for coming up with idea of supporting villagers living near the park.

Mbasha said that she was able to secure a 1m/- loan through her group—Eco Cultural Tourism where she started a poultry business.

“I started with 100 day-old broiler chicks, the number has now doubled. My plans are to expand the business by constructing more cages and increasing the number of chicks,” Mbasha said. Each of broiler chicken is sold at between 7000/- and 8500/-.

Narrating her story, Scola Paschal from the same village said she joined the group on May 2023 and was provided with a 500,000/- loan, of which she used to purchase a washing machine.

“Since I don’t have an office; I do all the laundry activities at home. The business is good as I can generate between 70,000/- and 80,000/- per week,” said Paschal.

Godson Chilongola (53) from Mikumi village said: “I was involved in illegal commercial bush meat trade, I have stopped. I now own a carpentry workshop; thanks to the REGROW project for empowering us economically.”

Chilongola who works as a casual labourer at the Mikumi airstrip upgrading project, said the income he gets has enabled him to start a clothing store business as well as supporting his wife’s food vending business.

Neema Mgalambe is the Community Facilitator (CF) and a member of the Eco Cultural Tourism COCOBA group; she said there are 15 groups in Mikumi village with a total of 327 members.

According to Mgalambe, the government through the REGROW project provided them with training on financial literacy before they were given a 191m/- support to execute the group’s project.

“People are taking loans and repay on time. We have so far disbursed loans amounting to 531,392,000/-, of which, 300,407,000/- has been repaid. We appreciate the government efforts as we are now benefiting from conservation activities,” she said.

Individual lenders can now get a loan of up to 7m/-, said Mgalambe.

She added: “A total of 87 youth from our village have benefitted with offered scholarship programs whereas they have been enrolled at the Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA) undertaking various courses related to conservation and tourism. The youth are now good ambassadors, educating villagers on the importance of conserving our natural resources.”

Avelina Daudi, a member of Zebra COCOBA group at Mikumi village said the project has largely contributed to improve her welfare as she is sure of meeting her family’s daily demands.

Daudi who has been a member of the group for four years, runs a min shop where she sells African and cultural attires.

A resident of Mang’ula ‘B’ village that borders the Uduzungwa Mountain National Park in Ifakara District, Amina Mkalimoto said: “My son benefitted with a scholarship program. He has been enrolled at the National College of Tourism (NCT) in Dar es Salaam.

Mkalimoto is thankful to the government as she has been struggling to take him for further studies after he completed Form Four in 2020.

“The government is paying everything for him including fees and other contributions. I am also benefiting from the project because apart from being economically empowered, I have visited different national parks including Serengeti,” she narrated.

She acknowledges the government's decision to provide them with seed money, saying it has changed their lives as most of them have established income generating activities.

Selina Maliatabu, from the same village thanked the government for providing them with training on modern agricultural methods and sustainable beekeeping. She said the beekeeping project has started to bear fruits as they can produce variety products that are sold within and outside the district.

A rice farmers, Aloyce Mchungaledi said their group own 10 acres of paddy and they are expecting to harvest 30 sacks from each of the acres.

He said the paddy farm project has been supported by the REGROW project whereas apart from funds, members of the group were trained on modern farming methods.

“We are thankful to the government as well as the management of Uduzungwa Mountain National Park for agreeing to assist us in finding markets. This will further encourage us to grow more rice in future,”

REGROW Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, Emmanuel Igiha said: We closely monitor the villager’s group activities and provide them with entrepreneurship education to ensure the provided funds are spent appropriately.

Igiha said the groups also liaise with local government authorities at the village and district levels, for updates with social welfare officers.

The REGROW drive is expected to reach 61 villages around the four national parks, linking key conservation institutions and other stakeholders, namely the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), the Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB), the Tanzania Forest Service (TFS), the National Irrigation Commission (NIRC) and the Rufiji Basin Water Board (RBWB).